


Time Rhymes, Doesn't It

by Aurumsky



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Wonder Woman (2017)
Genre: Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Not Captain America: The First Avenger Compliant, Post-Wonder Woman (2017), The Author takes liberties
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-08-29 10:11:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16742041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aurumsky/pseuds/Aurumsky
Summary: The fall of Valkyrie and Steve Rogers goes a bit differently.----Diana was not prepared fish another person out of the waters of her island.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A very self-indulging work from myself for myself.

She is only visiting Themyscira, hoping to gather her wits. The rest of the world is at war, yet again, and as much as Diana wishes to help... she has long since shed the innocence she carried when she first set to the war.

So home it is, where she returns with her tail between her legs. Hippolyta hugs her tight when she arrives, only lets go after Diana has cried on her shoulder. It's unfair, how returning home makes her feel like a child all over again. Her mother reprimands, but they both know Diana will leave once again when she gets a hold of her thoughts, and this time Hippolyta will let her go willingly. But at the rate her brain moves, like the sea on a windy day, she's not leaving until the war is over, for better or worse.

" _Why do you hesitate?_ " her mother asked Diana when she seeked her advice.

" _Because I fear it will be the same_ ," she said, " _I will see good, then bad and worse, and I will love, only to lose that love, and then they will start another war._ " she looked at her mother, the queen of the Amazons whose face had not been so gentle in many years. " _Mother, what can I do?_ "

" _You can not do anything unless your mind is as clear as the sky on a cloudless day, Diana._ "

So she'd stayed. It's been three months, since, and Diana has sat on the edge of the water, the same beach she had dragged Steve to, and stared. The weathers have kept warm, like they always do, but the sky has yet to be cloudless. It's as if it is mirroring Diana's hesitation, the doubt clouding her heart like the clouds hide the sun.

She lies on her back, crosses her fingers over her stomach. She has not wore an armor since coming back. She fears only the feeling of it on her body will raise her spirits and she will dive head first into a battle and get her heart broken yet again.

It had been so easy, then, to don the suit and take to the war, fearless. Steve had been at her side, shrewd and amusing and beautiful, and he'd been what is good in the world.

Diana closes her eyes. Breathes. She shouldn't. When she opens her eyes again, her heart is yawning open and demaning attention. Diana wishes she could, would know what to _do_ with a broken heart. But she doesn't, and so she pushes it aside, hides it behind smiles and posture.

It's because she's visiting Themyscira and laying on the cliff she jumped to save Steve from that lead to the following. Something blocks the sun, the hum of an engine fills her ears. For two seconds, Diana's heart _soars_. Then she sees it. Another plane, but so much bigger. It's nothing alike the plane Steve arrived on, the one that fits two people. But it's heading straight towards the water.

The moment is reminiscent and cruel, but Diana shoves her heart away and starts running. She doesn't know how many people are on the aircraft, or how many of them she should save, but for now she is reaching for the single person she can see: the pilot. Water surrounds her seconds after the plane has sunk, and Diana has easy pass inside, the windows having broken upon impact. She grabs the pilot, a tall man, and kicks upwards towards the surface. His heartbeat is still strong under her fingers, so she's not afraid he'll pass just yet, but he might've swallowed water.

It wouldn't be the first time she sees someone drown.

She drags the man to the sand, her heart shuttering with pain, as another aircraft sinks to the bottom. Their waters are starting to resemble battle grounds.

Diana has learned some things since Steve, in the hypothetical event of something similar happening again. But again, this time just as she's setting her hands to the man's chest -large and with a white star on it -he coughs and the water comes out.

Diana leans back on her knees and waits. The man coughs too few times, gasps once or twice and then he opens his eyes. They're blue like the sea, as deep and bright. Diana's heart aches.

The world is such a cruel place.

"Hello," she says, when the man keeps staring ahead into the ocean. He doesn't startle physically, but Diana can read the surprise off his face when he turns. His blue eyes widen with same shock and awe as Steve's.

"Hi," he says, "are you an angel? Is this Heaven?"

Now. Diana has been called an angel a few times over her years in the outside world. She'd quickly learned it was meant to be flirtation in complimenting the woman's appearance. But this one. He sounds so innocent, hopeful, a little scared. He thinks he's dead. Diana supposes that makes sense.

"No," she says gently. "This is Themyscira, and I am Diana." She has long since shed the title of Princess, unless she is feeling boisterous.

The man tilts his head, squints at her. Diana can only compare him to Steve. She waits.

"I'm not dead?"

Diana feels a smile stretch her lips. It feels like a gentle smile, like a loveless version of the smile smiled upon the picture of Steve on the board of fallen soldiers. She doesn't like this smile. It reeks of pity. The man apparently thinks so too.

"You're not dead," she confirms, it would be cruel not to, and Diana will be anything but cruel. He doesn't look relieved. "Were you alone on the plane?" she asks then because what if he wasn't, and Diana has just killed someone important to this man.

He hesitates. "Yes."

Diana wishes for her lasso, her hands twitch and start to reach for it before she remembers. She has only worn cotton and silk for months.

She feels soft.

She is not.

"You lie."

He looks quilty. "They're all dead."

"They should be," she answers, "it's common when one drowns." Diana does not know where this scathing feeling of irritation is coming from. She knows already what he means with his words, she does, and yet.  _And yet_. Maybe it is his disrespect of their passing, maybe it's only that he lied to her.

"I'm sorry," she says nevertheless. "I do not take kindly to lies."

"Neither do I," the man smiles sadly, "I'm sorry too."

There's silence, in which Diana watches him. He is bigger, stronger than most soldiers she has seen. He has no imperfection, no scars and no blemish on his skin.

He is not human.

But Diana does not know what he is.

No one has come yet. Last time their warriors arrived half as fast. Diana stands up. "Come," she says, "I'll show you my land."

He stands up on command, uninjured, unhindered. He follows her easily.

Hippolyta greets them before they reach the city. She is alone, but Diana knows not one sane man would try to cross her. He does not, though she watches his ears redden at the sight or her mother's legs. Diana has grown a taste in long dresses over her time in the world, so as freeing as it is to switch the heavy, dark fabrics for the flowing white of her home-country, she could not choose a dress shorter than the one that reaches her knees. Her mother, though, as any other warrior, has no such limitations. Diana has and does not think it improper, after all, it frees your legs for further movement, but the rest of the world does not yet agree. The men can barely breathe when they see a woman's knees, let alone her thighs. This one's ears redden and eyes snap up. Diana likes him.

"Diana." she sighs as if solely Diana could be held responsible, "You brought another one."

Diana feels like a child again, insisting against her mother, pushing against someone so unyielding.

"He would have died, mother."

Hippolyta sighs, soft and gentle, and looks at Diana. "This is where it started last time, you know that."

"I do."

Her mother spares her one look, love and tenderness, before her focus shifts on the soldier next to her. "Who are you?"

"Captain Rogers, ma'am," he answers curtly, snapping into motion as men do in armies when they are adressed by one their superior.

Captain, Diana muses. Her Steve used to be a Captain. Hippolyta eyes her, slight confusion in the lines of her face.

"It is a formal way to adress a woman," she explains. They have no such things, no need to genderize respect, and if you wish to show yours, you are to adress her by title. Hippolyta aligns her head only slightly in understanding.

"I do not care of your title, Captain, and last names are of little use here," her voice turns warm, "I wish to know what you want people to call you."

Here, he hesitates. Before, Diana would not have understood such distrust in others. Now, she holds such distrust, herself, neatly tucked behind her heart to whisper doubt and protection in the outside world.

"Steve, ma'am. You may call me Steve."

Diana feels like her heart might stop. Steve. Captain Steve with blue eyes and blonde hair and who crashed a plane in her land and who she dragged into the shore. The breath she draws in wobbles and stutters, catches on her throat.

But she holds her posture, holds her face, her breath until it evens.

"Steve," Hippolyta says, and this time it's for Diana. She looks so gentle, so forgiving. "You may call me Hippolyta. I do not wish you continue to call me ma'am."

"Mother," Diana says, finding her voice. It holds a quiver. Steve- Roge- Captain notices and he looks worried. "May I bring him to the city? He needs to wash the sea from himself."

Hippolyta steps aside. Diana walks past her and Captain follows. The queen does not.

Diana's heart will not settle.

\----

Steve Rogers is a dead man walking.

He remembers, vividly, every moment that brought him to this one, to this place. He remembers everything, how Red Skull's face contorted with fear, how Peggy's voice catched on her throat and how smooth the sail of the Valkyrie was. He crashed, into the unforgiving arms of the sea. He felt water, saw darkness. And yet.

He also remembers a figure of a woman, strong hands on his chest.

He is alive.

In a place called Themyscira, with a woman called Diana, who looks like a warrior and smiles like a mother.

He is alive.

He feels it in his bones, knows it in his heart, even when his mind struggles to realize this.

Steve walks with her, through lush undergrowth and beginnings of a city. It's the most beautiful place Steve has ever seen, surpasses even the pictures painted of Eden, God's garden.

He doesn't want to leave.

(He needs to see Peggy)

They pass an area built open and sturdy. There are obstacles and higher positions, and even without the women performing in it, he would have recognized it as a training ground. Steve watches, with growing envy, as a dark skinned woman effortlessly wields dual swords in a dance of fluid motions, as another, taller but lither, evades the attacks of three without a weapon on her body.

Diana prowls forward without slowing, and Steve can only follow. As they walk, further and further into the city, where wildlife turns into stones and flowers used for decor, the sun starts setting.

Diana is greeted by many, with smiles and bows, and Steve is regarded with curiosity, amusement or distrust. Mostly it is a combination of the three, but no one calls out to him, no one tries to stop their process. He keeps two steps behind Diana, first time in years because he almost can't catch up. It's incredible, for someone to have a stride faster than him.

They stop in front of a building made of washed stone. Steve would call it a mansion.

"This is my home," Diana says as she walks inside. "And, for as long as you need it, your home, too."

Steve follows her, stops at the doorway and stares. It's gorgeous.

"Your rooms will be this way," Diana informs him, as she stands in front of a glassless window, one twice as board as Steve and only ten inches off the ground. Anyone could step inside from it, soundlessly like a cat.

He looks at Diana. She is smiling, her eyes twinkling with amusement and knowledge, as she waits for him.

"I can't-"

"You don't have to," she assures him, easily, "but please, spend the night here. Bathe yourself and eat and sleep for energy. If you wish to return to the war, I will take you there myself."

War. Steve glenches his teeth. He hopes it's over, that his sacrifice was enough.

"You know about the war?"

Diana smiles sadly. "I do. Our people don't engage with the Man's World, but I have been out there, I've seen the war myself. I... I escaped, here, to gather my wits."

Isolation. Fitting, Steve thought, for such a paradise. No war to kill your men, no plague to kill your children. No government to take your food and no other such problems that have haunted Steve's whole life.

"It's understandable," he answers.

Diana look again amused, hiding a layer of sadness.

"It was so easy to go, though," she says. "To the war."

It is. So _easy_.

"I know."

There's that look again, the one from the beach. It feels like she's looking directly into his soul, like she knows him better than he knows himself.

"I suppose you do."

Steve watches her watch him, as weariness settles on his bones. Even though he can go days without rest, he's also told the loss of adrenaline after near death situations can make him extremely tired. _"It's the last sign you need to sleep,"_ Peggy said, _"if you were well rested you wouldn't have gotten nearly killed."_

"Tomorrow, then?"

Diana smiles, nods. "Tomorrow."

\----

Diana shows Steve to his room. The bedroom only is as big as his apartment, the bed larger and softer than he thought possible. Though scarce in furniture, the room gives him a feeling of wealth. His gaze stops on the flowers sat next to a window. They're a deep blue, almost violet.

"I have a fondness for flowers," Diana says from the doorway, "especially hyacinths."

Steve turns to look at her. She is smiling, the sad smile he's seen glimpses of. "It is said Apollo named the flower after his deceased lover, whom he killed in accident," she huffs through her nose, "my mother told me, that especially in blue, this flower means constancy."

"You've lost someone." Steve doesn't mean to blurt it out like that, but it's been pushing out of his mouth for a long while now, and finally it slips free.

"Haven't we all?" is Diana's less than bothered answer. Steve acknowledges this with a lowered head. He raises his eyes when he hears steps, Diana is leaving. Though she actually only takes five steps to the direction they didn't come from and looks back to him expectantly.

"You can bathe here," she says when he slides to a stop at her side. "I would offer for another, more aestetically pleasing spot, but I think you'll prefer your privacy."

The bathroom is as beautiful as the bedroom, nearly everything carved from light colored stone. The windows are smaller in there, for a good reason, Steve supposes, the windowstills lined with different kinds of stones and shells Diana has obviously found from the beach. Steve catches her looking at him, arms crossed and that amused twinkle in her eye. It takes him a while to realize she is expecting him to take a bath now.

"There are soaps for you to use if you wish to," she says when Steve steps inside. "The water is also clean, but drain it after you've finished."

She leaves Steve alone with lavender scented shampoos and blue shells that glint in the slowly setting sun's light.

\----

"There are no men here," is the first thing from the Captain's lips as he enters the living room, where Diana is gazing at the sunset.

"No," she says, "we have no need for men."

"There are also no children," he says next, settling to stand next to her. "Is it because you have no men?"

"I was sculpted from clay," Diana says even when it is not correct and she knows that now. It still feels nice, mischievous, to see the look on his face at her comment. Steve's nose scrunches up. Diana smiles.

"You are Captain America, are you not? I remember now, the suit."

He looks at her, disappointment and resignation in his eyes.

"I am," he admits nevetheless, "but I would like not to be, when the war ends."

Diana huffs a laugh, a bitter reaction towards a hope she knows to be useless. She does not comment, however. Steve can have his wishes.

"You must be hungry," she says, walks to her kitchen. Steve follows, sits where she gestures with little show. He's more relaxed now, less of a soldier and a captain and more a man tired of fighting.

"You should eat, too," he says after she's placed a plate in front of him. He does not seem to have an appetite, but he is polite enough to be willing to eat.

"I've already eaten. Do not worry yourself."

In truth, Diana does not have much of an appetite herself. The events of the past hours, the future that seems to be reminding her of her past, has ripped her of the will to eat. Steve looks at her, seems to be able to see past her deception, but he remains silent and starts tearing into the food with the fervor of a person who did not realize he was hungry.

Diana, with fondness she does not wish to feel, goes to seek larger clothes for him to wear. She can't imagine the suit will be comfortable to sleep in. She, also, seeks out her mother.

Hippolyta is alone, as she always seems to be at sunset, the missing form of Antiope at her side prominent.

"Mother."

Hippolyta turns, smiles sadly. She already knows what Diana is here to tell her.

"I will be leaving tomorrow."

"Yes, my child."

They speak no words after that, stand in the golden glow of the setting sun and paint the moment into their memories. The sky goes dark, blackness settles over their island as stars set alight. The moon is to their backs, giving them only a sky full of stars, a black sea and a sliver of silver.

"I wish you well," her mother says when she finally leaves to retire, and Diana hugs her fiercely. She is left alone.

\----

When Diana travels back to her home, the streets are emptier and colder, but still no less welcoming. Steve stands by the windows that face the ocean, an impossibly sad look on his face for someone so young.

"You should sleep," Diana says, startling him out of his thoughts, whatever land of imagination he was visiting.

"I wasn't comfortable going to sleep knowing you were still out."

Diana smiles.

"I am here now, and you should sleep."

He listens easily, wanders into his appointed room. Diana's eyes fall on the sword mounted on her wall, and the shield above it. A picture comes to her mind, seen months ago on a newspaper.

It seems she will need to venture outside again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana takes Steve home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't write Peggy.

When Steve wakes up, he wants to turn on another side and continue sleeping. It's only when he does and doesn't fall off the bed, that he remembers what happened the day before.

He sits up, can't get up very fast, no matter how he tries. His body feels heavy but well rested, though his mind is running fast and clear.

Steve looks around the room, at the light walls and blue hyacints. His eyes fall on the folded suit on a bench and his shield leaned against the wall next to it. Steve is fairly certain he did not have his shield with him at any point from the plane to here. Diana must've gone back for it.

Steve feels warm.

He shoots up and changes into his suit, tripping over himself in his haste to get to Diana and for her to fulfill her promise of taking him home. The weight of his shield is familiar, both comforting and something he dreads every time he has to dress himself, but now Steve has no time for such thoughts. He races out of the room and takes the seven steps required to reach the large and light room he _thinks_ is a living space (? Maybe? He does not know) and stops dead in his tracks and thus stumbles.

Diana swirls around at the sound of his footsteps, black cloak billowing with the movement. Steve catches a glimpse of red, blue and gold, before the cape settles again, hiding her from neck down. She has two bags at her feet, the other more full, and her smile is far brighter and eyes clearer than yesterday.

 "Steve!" she beams, then her eyes and voice dulls a fraction, "You are awake. Good. We're leaving as soon as you're ready."

Steve wants to say he's ready immediately, but is seems he doesn't need to voice it. Diana hauls the emptier bag up and tosses it to him. It's heavier than Steve expected, but nothing he can't handle, so he slings it over his shoulder and stands at attention.

 He can see now, as she leads him steadily down the streets of the awakening city, what she had meant when she said it had been easy to go. Diana is thrumming with energy, her steps quicker and greetings tighter. She doesn't smile anymore, now that they've exited the house, and Steve can see seriousness settling onto her face. He wonders what happened to her in the war, if she had to leave when she is so eager to return.

 "What will we be traveling with?" Steve asks once Diana has walked him into a bay between two rocky cliffs.

 "A plane," she answers, turning on her heel to regard him but not slowing in her stride. "It won't be anything like your plane, if you're worried, but I'm afraid a boat would be too slow for us."

 "It's okay." Even though his insides twist up at the very idea of being up in the air. Diana was right, though. Her plane is nothing like Valkyrie. It looks like those from the first World War, fits two people and their belongings.

 "It's..." he can't bring himself to offend her, but it's _old_.

 "You'll see," Diana smirks, softer than when Howards smirks when he's about to show Steve something amazing, but similar nevertheless. She loads their bags and climbs on easily, gracefully and with far more dignity than Steve stumbles on.

The engine hums on, practically purrs under Steve, silent yet powerful. Steve feels a little foolish, doubting Diana.

(he wonders _why_ he trusts her so easily, why he thinks of her as a part of him already, like he's known her longer than he has. It might be the way she looks at him, like she's known him for years.)

 "We'll be going through the barrier in a bit," Diana informs him and Steve doesn't have the thought to wonder, _what barrier_ , "You might feel queasy."

 He _does_ feel queasy, when the skies turn dark and the clouds appear out of nowhere. Steve turns his head in time to see the last sunlight of Themyscira before it disappears as if it never were there. That explains very much.

 "That's neat." Steve says stupidly. He can almost see Diana's indulgent smile.

 "The gods gifted us protection from the man's world." She explains, as if that answers all Steve's questions. In her mind, it probably does.

He finds, it's not the flying he's afraid of, it's the sea that glitters below them. Diana advises him to keep his eyes on the clouds.

 "How long do you reckon the flight is?" He asks and swats Diana's hair out of his face. It hadn't been a problem at the beginning, but now it's starting to be one.

 "We should be there by sundown. I am taking you to Germany, correct?"

 She is. Steve isn't quite certain Germany will have camp anymore, but then again he's only been gone a few days. Dead, but still.

 "So, what made you leave for the war?" He asks before he can shut his stupid mouth. "You don't have to answer that."

Diana shrugs one shoulder and looks down on the water. "The war came to us and I left with it. I couldn't stand aside when I saw an opportunity to help."

 "But you came back home." Steve keeps repeating the short exchange of words after the blue flowers, and for some reason he can't keep his mouth shut.

 "I had the opportunity," she says, "I couldn't stay."

And Steve _understands_.

\---

He gets hungry after a while, and places a hand to his stomach in vain attempt of silencing it. He hopes the howl of the wind does a better job at that.

Diana tells him there's fruit if he wishes to eat.

Steve denies everything.

\---

They land in Germany when the sun is already setting, the sky an orange inferno, and Diana's smile is golden when she climbs off the plane. The wind takes a hold of her hair, whips it around while Diana waits for him, and for a while Steve can't move.

 "Where to?"

\---

 " _Steve?!_ "

Diana stands rigid beside him as Peggy rushes forward, cautious and prepared. He knows she has nothing to worry about, but he appreciates her readiness to defend him nevertheless.

 "Peggy," he opens his arms, hopeful that Peggy accepts the invitation. Instead, she stops two steps away, and Steve has to drop his arms.

"You died," she says, hisses, hands in fists, "your plane went down and you _died_."

 "Surprise?"

Peggy _does not_ look amused, so Steve sighs and drops his head. Diana stands still at his side, but a small smile has broken over her lips. "She saved me," he motions for Diana, "pulled me out of the water and gave a lift back."

 "Oh," Peggy says as she straightens her skirt. She looks Diana up and down, clearly unimpressed by the black cloak, but also visibly thankful. "The US owes you a great deal, in that case."

Diana looks like the US should be owing her for a lot more than for saving Steve, but she is smiling. Her smile is still that dim little thing, but Steve likes to think it genuine anyway. "I am glad I could help him."

Peggy smiles tightly, her eyes flitting to Steve. "I'm Agent Peggy Carter."

"I am Diana, Princess of Themyscira." Diana answers without missing a beat, offering her hand to Peggy graciously. Steve chokes on his saliva a little bit.

Peggy blinks, but she recovers far easier than Steve.

 "Princess?" she says, an intrigued laugh in her voice, "I must admit I haven't heard of Themyscira."

Diana smiles. "I would be more surprised if you had."

Peggy brushes her skirt, rolls her shoulders and turns to Steve. "We need to report this to Colonel Phillips, you know."

Diana's mood sours. Peggy leads them in and around, and when they reach a door that looks vaguely important, she asks Diana to stand outside. Diana frowns, but obeys. Peggy seems crossed between pleased and annoyed.

 "Colonel Phillips," Peggy says as she enters, "I'm sorry for being this sudden, but there has been... An unecpected occurence."

 "Is that what we're calling me now?" Steve smiles as he is shepherded into the room by Peggy, who is a tumble of trembling energy.

He faces Colonel Phillips, whose hand is frozen in the air, other resting on his chin. He regains his composure as flawlessly as Peggy, and continues his movement, crossing his hands on top of the desk.

 "Captain Rogers." he says flatly. "How unexpected."

Steve wants to laugh, just a little bit, at Colonel Phillips' tone. He doesn't, but he smiles a little, which is appropriate either way.

Peggy clears her throat.

\----

Diana is not found when Colonel Phillips finally lets Steve go, but laughter he knows well catches his attention. Peggy isn't there to stop him, like he probably ought to do, so Steve heads straight towards the laughter.

He is thrumming with energy at the prospect of meeting his friends, who have become exceedingly dear to him in the war years. His gut churns, when he remembers they think he's dead.

When Steve turns the corner, he sees his Howlies gathered around Diana, faces red with alcohol and laughter, and Dum Dum snorting into his drink every few seconds.  
Diana is glowing in the orange glow of the lights, and her eyes sparkle in reminiscense.

"So you're like our Pegs? Fierce woman in the field with men?" Monty asks and Diana breaks off from her conversation with Jaques, which she was having in _perfect_ _french_.

 "I suppose," Diana smiles, "I could see from Agent Carter that she is a fighter."

 "Princess," Peggy's voice comes from behind Steve, and every single head snaps towards them. Steve tries to hide behind Peggy, but she's _half_ _his size_. Diana's eyes are laughing as she looks at him.

"Agent Carter," she says pleasantly, "there is no need to adress me by title."

The men are clambering up and around, looking at Steve, at Diana and each other, startled and jumpy. Dum Dum drops his bottle.

 "Hey," Steve says. He feels awkward, more nervous than in front of an audience. It could be because these are his friends who thought he was dead. "I'm back. Miss me?"

Diana looks vaguely happy as his men come to him, teary eyed. Peggy steps aside with a soft smile, retreats near Diana. Steve would keep looking at them, two very impressive women side to side, but Jim wraps him in a hug and he's concentrating on them for now.

\---

They settle after a while, around the fire and Diana acts as Steve's supporter as he retells the story, but she does it better than he does.

 "And you're really a princess?" Gabe asks.

Steve sees Peggy does a little bit of a scoff, as if she doesn't quite believe what Steve and Diana are saying. It's strange it's just the Princess part she seems to be stuck on.

 "Yes," Diana says and Steve knows she's being honest because she almost murdered him for lying and she has no reason to lie about being royalty of a land no one has ever heard of. And Steve has seen her mother, the tiara on her forehead. "But my people are very casual about it. I would be happy if you called me Diana."

 "A warrior princess?" the new one, someone Steve doesn't know but he's _young_ , and they call him Junior, asks with a hopeful tone to his voice.

Diana smiles but otherwise doesn't acknowledge the inquiry. Steve stealthily nods and winks to Junior, and he smiles.

Steve knows nothing about Diana, whether she actually is a warrior or not, but she carries herself with the pride of one, and is as tall and unyelding as her mother, who most definitely is a warrior. Diana had not been wearing an armor (he supposes they are armors, leather and metal and freeing the movement) when they met, but it's not the clothes that make a soldier. But Diana is not a soldier. She doesn't look like she would take orders, doesn't have the purpose with no thrive.

Diana stands. "Forgive me," she says. "I have to... I have someone I wish to see."

Steve shouldn't question, shouldn't feel the disappointment he does. He and Diana made no agreement past this point, no commitment to stay with each other. Diana promised to take him back, and she has delivered.

 "Who?" he still asks. Peggy narrows her eyes and glances at him. _Don't be rude_ , her eyes read.

 "An old friend," Diana says, and Steve is quite familiar with what people usually mean by that, what Bucky _always_ meant by that, and he almost asks. _"_ I fought the war with him."

And then he doesn't.

  _'You've lost someone.'_

_'Haven't we all?'_

Steve settles. "Will you be back?"

Diana smiles, soft and gentle, but Steve sees her hands curl into fists. "I do have to get my plane."

\---

Diana dislikes making promises she does not know how to keep. Steve is pure, shining in this world just as her Steve, and she aches having to lie to him.

Of course she has to get the plane back, that is what she's using as her base to the lie, that she did get the plane back. She just wishes Steve isn't waiting for her to come back.

 Sameer, Etta and Chief are waiting for her when she arrives. Diana smiles, happy to see them again, guilty for leaving them.

 "Diana!" Sameer laughs when he hugs her, and she kisses his cheeks like they're used to. "Finally. Thought you wouldn't show."

 "Of course I would," Diana reprimands him, "I'd never miss on seeing you."

Etta tackles her into a hug next, arms powerful and smile large. "We've missed you," she tells Diana when they break apart, brushing off the grey dress they'd bought Diana years ago. "Charlie's been asking."

Diana's eyes sting with tears. "I'll come with you, after."

Etta nods and Diana turns to Chief. They've never hugged, Chief's not the type, but he gives a smile and a nod which mean equally much. Diana watches her friends. Etta and Sameer have aged, as thirty years tends to morph the human body. Etta has put on muscle, from hoisting around Sameer and Charlie like misbehaving children, and she looks radiant when she smiles. Sameer has deep set wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, on his forehead. Both worry and laughter etched onto his face.

Chief is as usual, the same face, same winking twist to his lips. Diana wishes to know how he manages the ageless look, how he has convinced people of his humanity when he is anything but.

She takes the hand Etta is offering, and together they set off to the gravestone dedicated to soldiers fallen in the first war.

\----

Charlie can't quite sing anymore. It doesn't stop him, and they all pretend not to hear when he wavers, but it's not the same.

For Diana, who remembers his songs like yesterday, the change is heartbreaking. Chief holds her hand when he notices, but neither adress it.

Past might be closer to Diana and him than their human friends, but it doesn't mean they have to bring it up.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Steve waits for Diana even after sunset. He doesn't- can't risk her leaving in secret, even if he should respect her decision to do so. Peggy spends half the time with him, warmer and friendlier now that she has had time to accept he is back.

 "What is she like?" Peggy asks, and Steve doesn't think there is a way to answer that. He doesn't know Diana at all, shouldn't pretend to.

 "Kind," he says, "strange."

Peggy snorts. "You seem to have taken a shine on her."

 "It's hard not to like her," Steve shrugs and feels like this is about more than Diana.

 "Yes," Peggy fiddles with the top button of her shirt, "I've noticed."

Steve tries to think of a way to address the strange furrow of her brow, but he fails and therefore the next minutes are spent in silence.

 "Are -are you cold?" Steve stumbles out just as Peggy sighs in frustration. She huffs a laugh of some kind.

 "No," she says gently, "I've gotten used to it."

Like everyone gets used to the cold when they're in the war. Of course Steve knows that.

 "Steve," Peggy turns to him. "If- Your job as Captain America is done, if you want. Colonel Phillips thinks you should keep up appearances for public morale for as long as it takes for the war to clear over, but it's your decision."

 "You know I can't just _stop_ ," Steve begins, but Peggy places a hand on his arm.

 "Yes you _can_. You've done enough." Her eyes are very gentle but her hold on him is firm. "We tell Colonel Phillips you'd prefer to keep your survival off the records and you can do whatever you want. I'm sure we can convince him."

Steve smiles a bit. "We'll see."

He hears the shuffle of leaves, too deliberate be an accident from an unintentional eavesdropper. Steve turns to see Diana leaning against the plane. She's wearing a grey dress and has her hair up in a bun. She looks completely different from what Steve has already gotten used to.

 "I didn't mean to listen in," Diana says. She motions between him and Peggy, a movement which seems weirdly too human on her. "But in my defense, you _are_ blocking my plane."

Steve forcefully swallows disappointment multiple times as Peggy grins.

 "It's quite late for flying, don't you think?" She says, "It would be best if you waited until morning."

Diana kicks her leg in front as she leans back to regard Peggy as if offended. "I have quite remarkable night-vision, Agent Carter. But," she smiles a bit. "I think I'll take your offer. _If_ it is an offer."

 "Of course. Not too much female company here for me to enjoy." Steve is left out of the equation as Peggy and Diana bid him good night and traverse towards where-ever Peggy's quarters are.

\----

Diana sits on her provided bunk, filled with almost-nostalgia as she looks around. Not that Diana has ever actually spent a night in a military lodging, but it's familiar enough.

Agent Carter sets her jacket on a chair and glances at her. "Will you be returning to your home land first thing in the morning?"

 "Ah," Diana nods. "It's not quite as simple as that, but yes, I think I will attempt to find my way back."

 " _Attempt_ to find?" Agent Carter asks, removing pins from her hair. Diana cannot fathom the need for all of them.

 "Yes. I'm afraid it's not quite as simple as going where the map shows you." Diana shakes her own hair loose, unbuttoning her shoes. "Themysrcira is very well hidden and protected from the Man's world. Finding my way back won't be as easy."

Agent Carter eyes her as she wipes off her brilliant red lipstick. Diana likes the shade of it.

 "That would explain why no one has heard of Themyscira."

 "It would," Diana agrees and feels unreasonably disappointed once Agent Carter's lips are free of lipstick. "We prefer our privacy."

Agent Carter hums. "Steve said it was like paradise."

Diana hides pain behind a smile, and she desperately hopes Agent Carter does not see behind it.

 "It would seem to be so, to one of this world. You've lived with polluted air and grey skies," she sighs, "when I first came here I found this place hideous."

Agent Carter is smiling a little. "Do you not find it now?"

 "The people make up for it."

 "The people? This is the second World War already in just thirty years. The people aren't that good."

 _Oh, Agent Carter_ , Diana thinks, _If you'd only know_. She thinks about telling her. Implying at least.

 "Sometimes there are people like you and Duncan and... Steve," and it doesn't even matter which Steve she is talking of.

 "He is quite good," Agent Carter agrees in a quiet voice. Diana thinks of the longing in Steve's eyes and the waver in Agent Carter's voice. She thinks of herself and Steve, at the scream she thinks was hers.

Diana sighs and her hand closes around the watch.

 "He is."

\----

The sound of morning wakes Diana from her light sleep, and she pushes herself into a sitting position. Agent Carter is still asleep, though Diana doesn't imagine she would be a heavy sleeper either, so she should be waking up soon as well. Diana pushes her legs straight and stretches her arms up until all the muscles in her body are stretched as tight as they go. She relaxes with a satisfying sigh.

With a careful glance at Agent Carter, Diana ties her shoes and slinks outside. She isn't entirely surprised to find Steve lurking at the front of a nearby tent. He looks tired, and is still wearing his Captain America suit.

 "Did you sleep?" She asks as a greeting, because she already knows Steve can tell when someone is approaching him.

 "Oh. No, not really." He grins sheepishly. "How about you? Is Peggy still asleep?"

 "Yes, I slept fine, thank you." Diana glances back to her and Agent Carter's tent, "I believe she'll be waking soon as well."

Steve hums. He doesn't say anything, so Diana assumes their conversation over and travels off in search of water. Steve follows rather close behind.

 "So you'll be leaving today?"

 "That is the plan, yes."

Steve seems unsatisfied with her answer, but then someone calls him and he leaves, seeming even more unsatisfied. Diana finds her water and washes her face before filling up her canteen.

With a sigh of a person who is tired of getting up, she straightens herself and stands to face the sunrise.

 "Princess Diana!" Struck with the oddest of flashbacks (though not especially rare) from her childhood, Diana whirls around. Agent Carter jogs up to her, hair still unpinned and merely tied back.

 "Good morning, Agent Carter," Diana smiles, "I was just about to bring back water."

Agent Carter smiles softly and accepts the water Diana offers her. She takes a sip and then looks at Diana toughtfully.

 "I thought you'd left without saying goodbye."

 "I'm not quite that rude, Agent Carter."

 "I believe you. Please call me Peggy."

 "Diana."

Agent Carter smiles. They traverse back to their tent.

 "Won't you consider staying here? We could do with someone like you."

Diana ignores the sudden heaviness of her chest as she makes her bunk.

 "I'm tired of the war." Except it's not quite so, either. She's gone nearly half a year without engaging in any sort of combat situation, and she was already losing her mind by the time Steve crashed his plane. Maybe it's a matter of finding a balance. "But I can do something else."

\----

Diana has been avoiding showing her armor in public, especially since she has had no need for it. She is well aware that the photograph taken of her, Steve, Chief, Sameer and Charlie isn't largely public, but descriptions of her have gone around. Altough, speculations of her identity have not been popular in some years. 

Especially the appearance of Captain America took away the focus from  _Wonder Woman_  that had risen again as the war had begun.

She is admittedly slightly nervous. Diana tugs at the breastplate.

 "Oh," comes from behind her.

Diana was left alone to change into ' _something more comfortable_ ' according to Peggy and Colonel Phillips -who wanted to know why he should let her stay and gain another mouth to feed.

Diana turns around to face Agent Peggy Carter standing at the doorway. The door is still widely open, as the handle is tightly gripped in Peggy's hand, which means the Howling Commandos also have a view of her.

Steve and Peggy's eyes are the widest from the bunch's.

 "You're Wonder Woman." They say in unison, in a breathy whisper.

There is nothing left for Diana to do except place Antiope's tiara in place and face them proudly.

 "Yes, I am."

The moment of hushed admiration is broken as Colonel Phillips comes down the hallway, takes one look at Diana's ensemble and turns on his heels -obviously not recognizing a perfectly good piece of armor.

Peggy comes forward, having completely missed what happened. " _How_?" She asks, tugging her out the changing room gently. "It's been _thirty_ years."

 "You must have been..." Steve falters off, face scrunching up, "a  _baby_ back then."

With an Agent and Captain America on each arm, Diana feels pretty flattered.

 "Oh. Not.. quite," she smiles, sheepishly, "my island, Themyscira, is the land of the Amazons. Our lives are longer and larger than any human could wish for."

 " _Amazons_ ," Peggy says with conviction, "are a myth."

 "You'll find many myths are truer than they seem."

\----

Diana is very impressive with a shield. Even more impressive she is with her lasso, golden and silken with a mind of its own.

She is magnificent and fiery, incredible in the ethereal way Peggy is grounding.

Diana wreaks havoc in the training centre, though she is controlled and contained.

 "Where has she been all this time?" Dum Dum asks with an impressed whistle as Diana ends her routine on a grounding landing, shield returning to her hand.

(And Steve can't believe he hasn't heard of her.  _Of Wonder Woman_. But he doesn't care, because she's right before his eyes, even better and stronger than he'd imagined as a child.)

 "Hiding," Steve says.

\----

Steve helps with the war, though Peggy and SSR keep him from the public eye. To them he is dead. But he still helps. With Diana by his side more often than not, they clean up cities, take care of rebels, and. And, when it's done, when the world doesn't need Steve Rogers anymore, Diana helps him disappear.

They meet with a man Diana calls Chief, who calls himself Chief. Chief takes him and ten others and they leave at dawn.

 "Thank you," Steve tells Diana in the first morning rays, watching her.

 "You're welcome," she smiles, "use your time well. Living as a dead man is harder than it sounds."

They say goodbye to each other, Steve watches as Diana raises her hood and disappears into the woods. He feels melancholic, seeing her leave. Diana has been with him for a full year, all the way from the beach of Themyscira to a forest that stretches over the borders of France and Germany.

He'll never see her again, it's what they agreed on.

\----

Steve lives five years traveling the world, living a life he never thought he would, with his past and shadows of Diana and Bucky by his side. Peggy appears sometimes, as an angel on his shoulder -or maybe a demon, you can never be sure with Peggy -whispering things the real Peggy would do in situations Steve would need her quidance.

He conjured the Howlies with him one night, around the fire, laughing and drinking, finally relaxed after the war. Bucky would be there with them too, of course, and Peggy and Diana. It's a fantasy he doesn't dare visit often and still only Bucky and Diana stay for company.

He lives a good five years, turns thirty and walks into the arms of the sea.

It's how he should have gone, six years ago, and it is how he will go, now. In the freezing cold of the Antarctic, somewhere where no one could find his body.

He's pretty sure Diana would stop him, almost hopes she'll magically appear like last time and pull him out of the water into the sands of Themyscira. She doesn't but her shadow stands with Bucky a couple of yards away, watches over him.

The sea takes him without mercy, meets him halfway and curls around him in a protective hold. Doesn't let go.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The time between.  
> (Before The Avengers, after Steve got pulled from the ice.)

Diana stays in France. Mostly. She travels and tries not to get involved, but sometimes... sometimes the world doesn't let her rest. 

Some people know her, from before. Peggy Carter keeps Diana's secret in a vault with all of her own secrets, and Diana isn't worried she will tell it. Steve is propably somewhere, Chief must be wandering Siberia by now, like he's said he wants to.

But there are other people who remember. People who Diana doesn't know. An old man on the street, eyes large and unblinking, a little girl and her grandmother, beaming and pointing. Some accuse Diana of impersonating, and she thinks of herself then and of herself now and she agrees.

She does not learn to love humanity again, her faith and naivety are gone. Diana awaits the start of a third war (because by now she knows it's going to happen, because the wars never end, they never _stop_ ). She tries to keep away from them, not get involved, and she hears the people cry, hears the weapons and hears  _children cry_ , and it's like she is on a battlefield that stretches across the whole world, wars fought  _everywhere_ , and she can't escape.

She can't fight wars anymore. Not alone.

Because that's what she is, ultimately. Alone. She has no one by her side, no Steve and no Peggy and then Charlie passes away and Diana _doesn't_   _know_ what to do, so she escapes, leaves a mourning Etta and a tired Sameer and goes as far as she can.

Diana doesn't try to fix her loneliness, refuses to acknowledge she  _is_ lonely. Loneliness is a good way of life, unattached and free, she can go anywhere. Be anyone except  _herself._

Because she is Wonder Woman, a hero, a face that sometimes is seen on the page of a newspaper,  _a character_ for the public to place their hopes on, to make her what Steve Rogers was as Captain America. 

Diana of Themyscira does not excist anymore.

Wonder Woman disappears in the 80's and is assumed dead. The world forgets.

(For a while, when they don't need her. There is a criminal,  _a monster_ of a man in the beginning of the 21st century, and Diana takes care of him, just  _barely_ keeps him alive.)

Diana Prince enters the world in the mid 90's and gets a job in an art museum. Diana Prince is proper and gentle, and fits into the scene of high class easily and seamlessly, has painted lips and nails and sits on the edge of the chair and smiles with a twinkle in her eye.

No one makes the connection between Diana Prince and Wonder Woman.

Sometimes Diana wonders if there is one.

 

* * *

 

When he wakes up sixty four years into the future in a SHIELD base, Steve throws his head back and squeezes his eyes shut. He sucks at dying.

They teach him about the future, what has happened, who has died. Peggy is still alive, and he is told SHIELD was formed by her and Howard. No one tells him about Diana. No one talks about the year after the war.

Nick Fury, despite his smug smile and promises about 'there is nothing I don't know', has not found out Steve didn't go to ice when the world thought he did.

Steve feels admittedly smug.

Fury lets him go after two weeks, and Steve escapes to Europe. He's, naively, thinking SHIELD wouldn't follow him, but on his second day in Paris, he confirms the blond man who looks nearly homeless is, in fact, following him. So, not yet willing to confront the guy, he's escaped into an art museum that is advertising a passing exhibition of artifacts that derived from Japan. It takes his breath away, all they've found and restored from times before him, statues as old as tales and paintings of life once lived.

And there, in between catching his breath and gaping around, he sees a woman who looks exactly like Diana. Except she is poised and soft, with a red dress and black heels and painted lips and nails. She's identical to Diana aside from the way she acts, and Steve's heart aches worse than when he visited Peggy. It's one thing to see a friend has aged, it's another entirely to see the carbon copy who won't know him.

Except she turns her head while she talks, her eyes sweeping over the crowd in practiced ease, a motion skilled spies and soldiers know to use well. Her eyes return to him briefly, widen, and before Steve knows what's happening, she's excused herself from her company. She strides towards him, with the easy grace of a woman used to walking in heels. He meets her eye, the twinkle and smile upon her lips painfully familiar. Despite he knows this could not be Diana, he also knows it could not be anyone else. So, when she stops in front of him, smile warmer and eyes softer, he accepts her hand readily.

 "Diana Prince," she says with the same authority Diana had introduced herself to Peggy with, with the same easy rolling of her name. 'Prince' is unfamiliar to his ear, a cut off version of the 'Princess of Themyscira'. He wonders if that is exactly what she did.

 "Steve Rogers," he says gently, watches her eyes gleam. Her red lips stretch farther, reveal a little teeth.

 "A pleasure."

They go for lunch. Neither brings up the fact they are sixty four years into the future unaged because of their shadowers (though, Steve does wonder what's her excuse). Instead, they talk to each others like strangers. Steve tells where he's been, what he's seen, and Diana does the same and tells him how she became a curator for Louvre. Halfway through their meal, she gnaws at her lip and then smiles softly.

 "I hope you know this is not a place to be discussing business in," she says, slowly. Her eyes tell a different story and Steve knows she has noticed too.

 "I do," he nods. "But I don't have any other place to..."

 "My apartment is just around the corner," Diana says and gives a little smile, a hum of amusement.

 

* * *

 

 "I'm afraid I wasn't quite truthful with you, Steve," Diana says, after they'd retreated to her apartment. It's large, one of those modern flats that overlook the city of Paris.

 "Regarding what matter?" Steve asks, tries not to be nervous. Diana glances at him, amused.

 "We Amazons live long lives, yes, and I've barely started on my own. Yet, the kind of power I possess, to be named the Godslayer," she chuckles, "cannot be brought to life from clay." She turns to him, smiles a wonderful smile. Steve takes her hand, almost clings to it desperately.

 "Diana of Themyscira, daughter of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, and Zeus, God of Thunder, the King of the gods."

Her hand is warm in his, fingertips cold. They brush against his, startling. Her pulse is normal, like of any human.

 "God," he breathes, "you're half god."

Diana smiles prettily, her hand turns in his and the other comes to rest on the back of his hand.

 "Yes. Half Amazon, half god. My mother brought me up to believe she sculpted me from clay. It isn't long when I learned the truth."

For a second, Steve fears he might hurt her, that his grip is too strong for her fingers. Then he reprimands himself; he is still a human, she's a god. A god. He shouldn't be surprised. Amazons themselves are myths, or were, until Steve crashed upon their shore. Diana had spoken about the gods casually, as if the stories she'd recited had actually happened.

Apparently they had.

 "It doesn't change anything," Diana says then. Steve blinks up at her. "They're all dead. Nothing that happens will be because of the gods."

Steve squeezes her hand harder, her bones shift on her hand, at the pressure where Steve usually breaks a phone.

 "What happened to them?" Diana doesn't pry her hand free, but she uses it to take him to the couch. Gray, sleek, comfortable. She sits him down, positions herself on top of the white coffee table.

 "War. Ares kept killing the gods, until no one was left. I killed Ares."

She does not elaborate, and Steve lets her leave it at that. He knows war, intimately, and he knows Diana has fought more of them than anyone should ever be expected to fight.

 He doesn't need the details of her story, not this one, if she isn't willing to share them.

 

* * *

 

He returns to America with his tailers, marches up to SHIELD and lets them take him in, treat him like he is fragile and breaking, ignores how true that in a way is, and wallows in his anger and sadness.

They give him an apartment and an  _allowance_ , like the government wouldn't owe Steve  _thousands_. It's money he never asks for and money he doesn't particularly need.

Diana reaches out to him, with letters, because she must know SHIELD, must understand that privacy is not a thing in Steve's life anymore. Her letters are delicate, written in elegance and smell of her fragrance, and because of them Steve buys a kit for the sole purpose of writing her back, and a box where he can keep her letters.

The letters he writes are not nearly as pretty, his handwriting is absolutely horrid, which Diana claims is surprising,  _because you draw with such a_ _skilled hand,_ and they don't begin with ' _dear Steve_ ' -which in part is because her name is Diana and not Steve, and because writing down ' _dear anything'_ just makes Steve feel like he lives in Victorian England.

Steve also has no idea what the hell he should write in a letter, so he usually only decides to send whatever drawing he's recently finished. It's kind of rude of him to give loads of them to Diana, but it's not like he's expecting her to  _keep_ them. Anyhow, Diana compliments his art without question, and it warms Steve's heart, and sometimes she sends him pictures of their current exhibitions.

 It goes on for about a year or so. Fury calls Steve about the Avengers, Loki tries to invade Earth, and Diana's letter arrives, two weeks after, inquiring if he is alright and should she be worried. It's sweet, and also makes useless the about ten drafts he's written for her about the whole ordeal.

Steve sends her a five page story, detailing each Avenger and parts of the battle. Most of the space is taken by Stark, who Steve can't decide a thing about, but he feels Diana might dislike. What he writes about Natasha is scarce, and he doesn't mention it was her and Clint who were tailing him in Paris, but Steve imagines Diana and Natasha would get along well.

He details Thor, who Steve doesn't find as absurd as he should, given that  _Diana_ is his friend, and asks her how multiple gods work.

 (" _I am sorry to tell you this, Steve_ " he imagines she wrote this not sorry at all " _but the Asgardians are not in fact gods, no matter what they wish to tell you. They are aliens._ " Steve can't figure out if she means this or not.)

Then they don't talk about it. Steve sometimes updates her if he sees the Avengers again, and Diana politely sounds interested, which is a feat because writing letters is the slowest form of communication Steve takes part in these days and he is driven _insane_ by how long he has to wait for a reply and barely even remembers what he wrote to her.

 And so a few months pass, Steve goes on a few missions of SHIELD's behalf, smiles to the neighbor and breaks punching bags, until one day Diana responds to his for-once-colored still life with a simple ' _I'm coming over to New York.'_


End file.
